Ivory is a type of dentine, a hard, dense bony tissue that forms the majority of the teeth and tusks of certain animals. This material has been prized for millennia across numerous global cultures due to its unique physical properties, including exceptional durability, creamy white color, and a smooth, fine-grained texture that takes polish well.
The material’s relative softness and even consistency make it highly suitable for detailed carving, allowing artisans to achieve fine detail. Historically, ivory’s ability to be worked easily, combined with its status as a rare commodity, ensured its widespread use in crafting a diverse array of objects, ranging from utilitarian household items to fine art and components for musical instruments.
Objects of Personal Adornment and Daily Use
In many cultures, ivory was utilized to fashion small, portable items intended for personal grooming, utility, or as symbols of elevated status. The material’s smooth surface and pleasant feel made it desirable for objects that would be frequently handled, leading to the creation of accessories such as combs, hair ornaments, and mirror cases.
Small luxury goods intended for daily use often featured ivory components, signifying the owner’s wealth and prestige. Examples include sticks for folding fans, handles for umbrellas and walking sticks, and specialized utensils like chopsticks. Small pieces of ivory were commonly incorporated as decorative inlay into larger wooden objects, such as tea caddies and furniture.
Ivory’s durability and ability to hold fine detail made it suitable for small personal adornments. These included various forms of jewelry, such as beads, pendants, and bangles, often intricately carved. The material was also used for practical items like needle cases and small cosmetic vessels.
Fine Art, Religious Icons, and Decorative Carvings
Ivory’s lustrous surface and ability to withstand fine manipulation made it a favored medium for aesthetic and devotional objects, often involving highly skilled craftsmanship. In the Byzantine period, ivory was transformed into religious icons, including diptychs, triptychs, and pyxides (small, circular boxes used for ecclesiastical purposes). The material was considered appropriate for these devotional pieces partly because its white color historically connoted purity.
Sculptors utilized ivory for figurines and statuettes, particularly those depicting religious figures like the Virgin and Child or the Crucifixion. These carvings were often intended for display in churches or for private meditation. Ivory’s resistance to warping and high density made it a stable material for these detailed, three-dimensional works, which frequently featured low-relief scenes.
Beyond religious art, ivory was shaped into various decorative items and collectibles. These included ornate caskets and boxes, sometimes adorned with scenes from classical mythology or medieval romances. Miniature carvings, such as the Japanese netsuke, capitalized on the material’s ability to render complex forms in a small scale. Thin, stable slices of ivory were also used as a base for painting delicate portrait miniatures, a popular art form in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Components for Music and Leisure
The physical properties of ivory made it suited for functional applications where texture, density, and consistency were paramount. For musical instruments, thin sheets of ivory were historically used as overlays for the white keys on pianos and organs. The material was valued for its texture, which provided friction that prevented the musician’s fingers from slipping, even when damp.
Ivory remained cool to the touch regardless of ambient temperature, a quality pianists appreciated during performance. The demand for piano keys was so substantial that, at one point, it consumed more ivory than all other purposes combined. The use of ivory in this context continued well into the 20th century before substitutes were adopted.
In games and leisure, ivory’s high density and uniform composition made it the material of choice for objects requiring consistent weight and precise balance. Billiard or pool balls were traditionally made from ivory because it provided the necessary weight, consistent roll, and reliable rebound. A single elephant tusk, however, typically yielded only a few high-quality balls.
Ivory was used to create smaller game pieces, such as chess sets, dominoes, and dice. For these items, the material’s ability to be highly polished and its resistance to cracking were significant advantages. This functional application across music and games highlighted how the structural characteristics of ivory were as important as its aesthetic appeal.